Active Components in Biomedical Engineering: A Promising Future

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In the recent years, there has been a massive development  of technology for the medical care and health in general. These technological solutions are designed to solve medical problems that the humanity has been dealing with for many years. It is through such that the biomedical engineering was born.

Biomedical engineering is a combination of three disciplines: biology, medicine and engineering. It entails the application of the engineering principles to solve problems related to biology and healthcare.

Biomedical engineering also alleviates the medical welfare and improve the quality of life of people having different medical issues.

The work of biomedical engineers is to develop these solutions. They work with other engineering disciplines such as electric engineering, and mechanical engineering to come up products that have the potential to eradicate certain issues.

It is is through such collaborations that the concept of active electronic components come in.

These are the components that rely on the external power source to determine their actions and operations. They also have the power to influence the outcome of the electric current that passes through them.

The components are used for different functions in biomedical engineering applications. Some of these functions include;

• Signal processing
• Data storage
• Power amplification
• Signal control and many others

From these different functions, you can tell that different types of electronic active components are used for executing these jobs.

The growth of the biomedical engineering in relation to the electronic components

The growth of biomedical engineering goes hand in hand with the development of the electronics. The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) predicted that biomedical engineering will be a major tenet of life science in the coming years. By looking at the chronology of events, this has turned out to be true.

In 2006, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) carried out a survey to establish the role of biomedical  equipment in the world of clinical medicine. The survey analyze the impact that each technology and equipment has had in the pas 10 years. From the survey, it is clear that the equipment have made major  strides in the world of medicine.

A perfect example is the instrumentation technology which worked electronically by measuring the signals emitted in the body. This technology would work in both invasive and non-invasive manner to get the actual data of a patient’s condition. As expected the instrumentation equipment are packed with an array of electronic components. The technology led to  a great improvement in the quality of medical care that was delivered.

Later on medical imaging was introduced to the world of the biomedical engineering. It delivered two and three dimensional measurements. Currently, it is capable of delivering four-dimensional measurements thanks to the power of the advanced electronics.

Other than taking measurements, the treatment technologies are currently being used for performing surgeries-both invasive and non-invasive. Computer-aided surgery procedures are now a common thing in medical facilities. Robotic surgery is another technology that is improving the  delivery of medical care.

Many other biomedical findings that we have witnessed in the 20^th century are expected to make things better in the world of medicine. We are witnessing a shift from the traditional medical care to the high-tech electronic medical care.

From the look of things, we should not expect  things to slow down any time soon.

Biomedical engineering organizations

To streamline and accelerate the progress in this field, different governments established organizations to be in charge. The Unite States established several of them including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and AIMBE. Later on, a more specialized organization, the National Institute for Bioimaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) was formed. Its main focus was on the field of bioengineering.  Japan, on the other  hand established  the Medical Engineering Technology (METIS).

The primary goal of these  organizations was to shift the the use of technology from diagnostics to treatment solutions.

For instance, chunks of work done by the NIBIB accelerated the growth towards  the nanomedicine. Here, we witnessed development of tiny devices that were used for medical purposes.

Active electronic components  for biomedical engineering

The growth of biomedical engineering was made possible with the deployment of the active electronic components. Let’s look at some of these components and the role that they play in the world of medicine.

Integrated Circuits (ICs)

Also known as chips or just microchips, they are  part of every electronic device that is used in the biomedical engineering.

These active components comprise of many small electronic components that have been integrated to form a single device.

Open up nay device and you will find memory chips, processing chip security chip and other  types of ICs.

Keep in mind that each type of integrated circuit is designed to perform a specific role in the biomedical engineering.

Transistors

These are classified among the most common active electronic components used in biomedical engineering.

Transistors are used for different functions such as switches, amplification, regulation among others.

Diodes

When incorporated in a circuit, the primary function of   diode is to control the flow of electric current and signals. It ensures that the current flows through one direction only.

Diodes also function as power converters where they convert current from AC to DC. In some medical devices, diodes play the protection role whereby they prevent signals from flowing through specific components.

Operational amplifiers (Op-Amps)

These are also know  as  high-gain voltage amplifiers. They accept low input voltage from the power source and raise it to a higher voltage that can be used by the target load. They are usually used for amplifying signals in biomedical engineering systems.

Microprocessors/microcontrollers

Thse have similar features to the integrated circuits as they also comprise of many electronic components that work together to execute certain functions. You will find them in most high-end devices as they perform a variety of functions such as data processing and storage.

Microcontrollers also make it possible to connect different electronic devices so that they can function as a unit.

This s just a small sample of the active electronic components used in biomedical engineering. There are many others which are used for different purposes. If you are building any device to be used in the field of biomedical engineering, you will have to know the components to be used. In addition, you should know the technical specifications of each electronic component that  you want to embed in the device.

Be in contact with reputable electronic components suppliers  as it is the surest way of equipping your device with quality and reliable components.

A promising future of biomedical engineering

What does the future of biomedical engineering look like? Are there any new developments that we should expect and what  impact will they have in this industry? To find this, let’s look at the current trends in biomedical as they will give us a glimpse of what we should expect in the near future.

Wearable medical devices

Wearable devices  have become so popular especially in the fiend of biomedical engineering. These devices  are small and can be easily worn on different parts of the body to monitor health parameters. The devices collect data such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate among others.

The whole functioning of the wearable devices is based on the active electronic components.

Medical nanorobots

This is a trend that is currently under development and is expected to be perfect with time. It entails introducing extremely tiny robots into the body. These robots are loaded with drugs which will kill the cancerous on the specific body parts. The whole idea of nanorobots is based on the use of small electronic components.

Organ-on-a-chip technology

This aspect of biomedical engineering entails the creation of  chips that simulate different body organs.

The chips are mainly used for  research and study purposes whereby they are exposed to different conditions and a study is conducted on how they react. For example the study can project the immune response of the body organs.

Virtual reality

As other industries are embracing the use of VR, biomedical engineering has not been left behind. The technology is used during the diagnosis whereby it displays the 3D image of a patient’s body.  It provides a detailed outlook of the internal body organs hence better diagnosis.

VR  has also evolved to be a perfect tool for learning and research in the biomedical engineering. In some cases, it has replaced the use of cadavers by the learners.

Other than VR, there are other advanced display technology and communication systems that are getting into the field of biomedical engineering.

Conclusion

Active electronic components are the current and the future of biomedical engineering. They play a critical role in ensuring that all the systems related to the medical and healthcare  run smoothly and effectively.

The fact that biomedical engineering is a growing field means there is a brighter future. We should expect better things in the coming years.

Similarly the electronics industry is growing and expanding continuously. This also means that  a combination of the two industries will result in better outcome-for better health systems.

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